From fermentation to barrel and finally to bottle our goal is to stay true to our ideologies.
Our sanitation process, the usability of our winery, attention to detail and sensory analysis are a few of the tools we incorporate into our daily routine. Strict winemaking, cellar and lab practices drive our goals of making the best wine we can.
The art and science of winemaking is a continuous learning adventure, again we look at the law of cause and effect. We make our decisions based on the science of the lab and the outcomes of what has proven effective. The true balance of winemaking is achieved when science and art collide creating a bottle of wine well worth drinking.
In the Vineyard
Great wines are made in the vineyard, not the winery.
We co-farm our own rows and blocks in the most famous vineyards in Washington and work with our growers every step of the way, making every vineyard decision together. In addition, we own two of our own vineyards in Walla Walla.
Our Vineyards
In 2014 Betz Family made the decision to purchase our own vineyards. We have 22.5 acres planted to Bordeaux varieties on SeVein and 12.5 acres planted mainly to Syrah in the Rocks District, of Milton Freewater, both in Walla Walla
Harvesting & Sorting
From year to year decisions are driven by both flavor and physical maturity, for geeks this is called phenolic ripeness. We are one of a handful of wineries that use optical sorting.
Fermentation & Cap Management
Small open-top fermenters allow us to see, taste and smell every lot, every day to ensure happy fermentations. Gentle cap management enhances color, tannin, and mouthfeel.
Pressing into Barrel
We press gently using a basket press and taste continuously to ensure no over-extraction.
Barrel Selection & Racking
Matured in 100% French oak barrels from seven of the top Coopers in the world. Each barrel is its own wine and we rack and return back into the same barrel using a painstaking gravity process.
We get to know the quality and character of each barrel over several months before it is even considered to be part of our flagship wines.
Blending
Once the best barrels are selected we spend several months making each wine. We taste five blends at a time double-blind, using triple-digit random numbers to ensure no bias.
Each flight we select a top wine from the five and then construct another four blends around that for the next tasting. This process continues for several months until we eventually choose the final wine.
This is the essence of what sets Betz Family apart and why we need to be a limited production winery.
Bob Betz, MWThe true balance of winemaking is achieved when science and art collide creating a bottle of wine well worth drinking.
Los Angeles, CA
Bottling
We move our wines into tanks one month before bottling. We are able to bottle 2000 cases a day using a mobile bottling line, which plugs directly into our winery.
We age the wine in bottle for between 9 to 12 months before release.
Cellaring & Serving
Our wines are built to age for many years but can be enjoyed upon release. We suggest that a bottle of wine under 5 years of age is double decanted to ensure the aromas and flavor are unleashed for your full enjoyment.
Our wines should be served between 62 to 65 degrees F. In general red wines are drunk too warm and white wines too cold.
When is the best time to enjoy your wine? ... anytime
Drinkability recommendations are, at their best, a moving target. Individual preferences, storage conditions, food marriages, serving temperature and aeration/decanting time all affect how a wine is perceived as it ages. Your own palate should always be the final authority on when you serve any wine. While we craft our wines to develop with cellaring, they can be (and often are) enjoyed young, depending on one’s palate.
One of the greatest pleasures of making and consuming wine is seeing how it evolves in the glass, in the decanter, in the cellar and as it moves through its life in the bottle. It’s tempting to try to figure out when is “the perfect time” to drink a wine, more enjoyable is to simply open a bottle and taste it!
We suggest that whenever you decide to open a bottle, at any age, taste it first. If the wine seems “tight,” with some astringency on the pallet, you may wish to decant the wine to allow the aromas and flavors of natural fruit and oak to evolve with air contact, often making the wine feel smoother and more integrated.
As a general rule of thumb, if a wine is younger than 5 years from its vintage date you may wish to double-decant (pour it out of the bottle and right back in) and wait an hour or two before enjoying. If a wine is older than 5 years, you may wish to decant the wine or simply let the wine breathe in the bottle after opening and pouring a small amount. If the wine is 10+ years, you may not wish to decant at all as the bouquet can begin to diminish throughout the course of your meal.
Bottom line?
Taste first then decide!
Betz Family Winery is not open to the public. We host "Member and Friends" events throughout the year.
